To link to the entire object, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed the entire object, paste this HTML in websiteTo link to this page, paste this link in email, IM or documentTo embed this page, paste this HTML in website

Typescript letter signed from Arthur de Carle Sowerby, Fujian (China), to Robert Sterling Clark, New York (N.Y.), 1923 August 6

Typescript letter signed from Arthur de Carle Sowerby, Fujian (China), to Robert Sterling Clark, New York (N.Y.), 1923 August 6. Page 1

Letter from Arthur de Carle Sowerby in China to Robert Sterling Clark in which Sowerby reports on the situation in the Fujian province, where he's on a collecting trip. He tells of Chinese citizens forcibly impressed by soldiers who are left for dead when exhaustion and starvation render them useless, and a western missionary woman who was robbed. Sowerby seems to perceive a dissatisfaction on Clark's part regarding the volume of his collections. He explains that he is unhappy with the way the curators in the mammals department at the Smithsonian are handling his specimens and has therefore been focusing on collecting crustaceans, birds, mollusks, and other fauna. He assures Clark that he is working hard and has collected many specimens.

Arthur de Carle Sowerby was a naturalist, explorer and writer who accompanied Robert Sterling Clark on his 1908-09 expedition to the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in northern China. Sowerby remained in China collecting specimens for various museums of natural history and editing the journal he'd founded, The China Journal of Science and Arts. He was interned by the Japanese during World War II and returned to the United States in 1949. RSC funded Sowerby for many years. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1923 through 1930, with letters through 1953, the year before Sowerby's death. Most of the letters are from Sowerby, with some carbon copies of brief notes sent by RSC. The letters concern the often dire state of Sowerby’s finances as well as updates on his scientific pursuits and analyses of the tumultuous political and economic situation in China.

Letter from Arthur de Carle Sowerby in China to Robert Sterling Clark in which Sowerby reports on the situation in the Fujian province, where he's on a collecting trip. He tells of Chinese citizens forcibly impressed by soldiers who are left for dead when exhaustion and starvation render them useless, and a western missionary woman who was robbed. Sowerby seems to perceive a dissatisfaction on Clark's part regarding the volume of his collections. He explains that he is unhappy with the way the curators in the mammals department at the Smithsonian are handling his specimens and has therefore been focusing on collecting crustaceans, birds, mollusks, and other fauna. He assures Clark that he is working hard and has collected many specimens.

Arthur de Carle Sowerby was a naturalist, explorer and writer who accompanied Robert Sterling Clark on his 1908-09 expedition to the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces in northern China. Sowerby remained in China collecting specimens for various museums of natural history and editing the journal he'd founded, The China Journal of Science and Arts. He was interned by the Japanese during World War II and returned to the United States in 1949. RSC funded Sowerby for many years. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1923 through 1930, with letters through 1953, the year before Sowerby's death. Most of the letters are from Sowerby, with some carbon copies of brief notes sent by RSC. The letters concern the often dire state of Sowerby’s finances as well as updates on his scientific pursuits and analyses of the tumultuous political and economic situation in China.